Baskonia assaults La Fonteta again and sets course for the semifinals
The team from Vitoria, led by Baldwin and Fontecchio, manages the tension better than Valencia Basket and meets Real Madrid
MADRID, 30 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Bitci Baskonia will be Real Madrid’s rival in the semifinal ‘Playoff’ for the 2021-2022 Endesa League title after assaulting La Fonteta again this Monday, clearly beating Valencia Basket 59-76 in the third and final game of their quarterfinal series.
Neven Spahija’s team handled the pressure better and, led by Wade Baldwin IV (19 points and 6 assists) and Simone Fontecchio (16), defeated a Valencian team that was not able to take advantage of its second chance on their court either and that He did not take advantage of his best start to the match. His rival recovered and executed him in a disastrous ‘taronja’ last quarter, with only five points scored.
The tension for what was at stake was noticeable from the initial jump. Despite a hectic and successful start, Baskonia began to get entangled before the aggressive ‘taronja’ defense and after scoring seven points in the first two minutes, they could only add two more until the end of the first quarter.
Valencia Basket took advantage of it to open the first gap, despite accumulating more losses (5) than Joan Peñarroya would like and having problems with the offensive rebound. Still, he was able to close the first ten minutes with a good lead (20-9).
Neven Spahija’s team accumulated 3/15 in throwing, but knew how to suffer to maintain their options and not allow their rival to escape definitively. A triple by Costello broke a drought of more than six minutes without scoring and little by little allowed the visitors to re-enter the match.
The Baskonia continued to have problems in losses and the ‘taronja’, thanks to the work of Dubljevic, continued to comfortably dominate the electronics. However, the final minutes, also marked by Hermannsson’s knee injury, belonged to his rival who found the triples (Enoch and Fontecchio) and a ‘2+1’ from Giedraitis to reach half-time threatening (37-34).
BALDWIN APPEARS AT THE DECISIVE MOMENT
The script did not change excessively after passing through the locker room. The start of the third period was again erratic and Baskonia moved better there, with a great ‘3+1’ from Fontecchio catapulting the scoreboard (39-42) and forcing Peñarroya to stop the game due to offensive problems of theirs.
The move worked with a 7-0 (46-42) response, but the team from Vitoria responded with defensive strength on their rim and their offensive rebound to placate this threat of reaction. A basket almost over Dimitrijevic’s horn allowed the ‘taronja’ team to face the decisive ten minutes ahead (54-53).
There, the first to threaten was Baskonia, who from defense and with good actions by Baldwin IV, with a triple and a great ‘2+1’, took their first good moment with just over five minutes to go (56- 63). The worst for Spahija was the elimination of Enoch due to fouls, from whom Rivero took two in just seconds.
The main problem for Valencia Basket was that it cost them a world to make a basket, not even the ones that seemed ‘simple’, and a devastating 1/15 caused the ticket to ‘semis’ to become more expensive. Two free throws by Baldwin IV made the lead ten (57-67, min.37), a lead that was too complicated for Peñarroya’s erratic team to raise, especially when Fontecchio’s lethal wrist appeared.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: VALENCIA BASKET, 59 – BITCI BASKONIA, 76 (37-34, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
VALENCIA BASKET: Van Rossom (-), Hermannsson (6), Labeyrie (5), Rivero (9) and Tobey (2) –starting quintet– Dubljevic (14), Hanlan (-), López-Arostegui (7) , Pradilla (2), Claver (4) and Dimitrijevic (10).
BITCI BASKONIA: Baldwin IV (19), Giedraitis (10), Fontecchio (16), Peters (4) y Enoch (9) –quinteto inicial– Granger (4), Costello (7), Marinkovic (3), Wetzell (4), Raieste (-) y Sedekerskis (-).
–PARTIALS: 20-9, 17-25, 17-19 and 5-23.
–REFEREES: Pérez Pérez, Peruga and García. They fouled out Enoch.
–PAVILLION: The Fountain of San Luis.